As the Winds Change
by Renee Lenore
Summary: A series of events, countless moments. The winds of change are upon them. He will learn what it means to lead and love; she will learn to love again. AU after chapter 680
1. The Beginning

**New story idea I'm working with, inspired by Sasuke's goal of being a Hokage in the manga. I've been going overt this idea for a year now and just recently started to write it out. I'm sure other authors have written about this already, but this is my take on it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

This had to be one of the worst weeks of Sakura's life—not the absolute worst, but it was pretty close.

Sakura stood in the Hokage's office, looking over the mission scroll for a third time, occasionally glancing up Tsunade, just to make sure this wasn't a joke. But each time she caught a glance at her master's face, it grew more serious. There was no hint of amusement or happiness.

'_This can't be real . . .'_

"You're sending me to Orochimaru's village?" she asked finally, incredulously.

"_Otogakure_, Sakura," Tsunade corrected her. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the comment, biting her tongue; they were the enemy, she would refer to them however she felt inclined. "And don't give me that look; you know perfectly well that the village as a whole is no longer an enemy force—"

"Don't give me that!" Sakura shouted, amazed that Tsunade could be so calm about this entire situation. "Just because Orochimaru is dead doesn't mean that his shinobi aren't still going to attack our own at any chance they have," she seethed, remembering the trouble they had caused so many years ago.

"The attitudes of a village usually are affected by the beliefs and actions of the current leader," the Hokage said slowly. "Their Otokage has allied his village with our own. As a new ally to Konohagakure, it is our duty to assist an ally whenever help is called for."

"And what if I don't want to?" Sakura asked slowly, choosing her words carefully. "What if I tell you that this entire mission makes me uncomfortable, goes against my best wishes, and that I refuse?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed considerably. "Then you go against the oath you took at the Academy Graduation ceremony, you go against a political alliance, you go against this village, and you are going against my direct order," she answered between her teeth. Tsunade knew then that she hit a low point. Sakura was a completely loyal person to the core of her being; to be told that she was ultimately betraying so many aspects of her Shinobi contract would tear her to pieces.

Sakura glared up at the woman she had once admired, someone she would rely on with her whole heart. "Is this because of the council?" she asked slowly, carefully watching Tsunade's face in case the woman lied to her. "Is it because of—"

"No," Tsunade said quickly, her eyes glancing away. "This mission that you are assigned has nothing to do with that." There was a slight pause. '_Liar,_' ran across Sakura's mind. "The council is still very upset with you, the family of the child will not drop the charges, but this mission has nothing to do with that." Tsunade stood from her chair and turned to observe the village through the large windows. "Don't think of this as some form of punishment for your actions, Sakura. Consider this mission a blessing in disguise." The woman looked back at her former pupil. "Get away from the village for a while, step back from this whole mess. Do some good—"

"I saved that kid's life—how is that not good?" Sakura demanded, keeping her voice as calm as possible.

Tsunade did not comment on the outburst and continue as if uninterrupted. "Be away long enough for this whole thing to blow over. Maybe putting your efforts into Otogakure will do you some good."

Sakura glanced away, the pit in her stomach falling. She couldn't deny that everything that had happened this past week had taken a serous toll on her, but she would never admit it out loud. But the Hokage was right: everything had gotten out of hand so quickly; if Sakura stayed in the village, around her hospital where it all started, things might actually get worse. Perhaps Tsunade was right . . .

"When do I leave?"

"Immediately."

* * *

The journey to the land of Otogakure was long and emotionally trying for Sakura. Every step she took towards the newly-formed country was another step away from Konoha, her _home_. It had only been a year ago when the dynamics between all the great nations essentially changed and the countries rearranged themselves. After the Great Ninja War, borderlines were redrawn after the fall of different deities; countries underwent changes in structure and power. For the most part, the Fire Country, Earth Country, and Lightening Country remain unchanged as far as politics were concerned. Water country gained control over the surrounding islands, Winded gained control over Ame and Ishi, but it was Oto that had changed the most. With the fall of Orochimaru's reign, the village had essentially fallen apart. However, as the war caused this same destruction to other countries and villages, all of the smaller countries that had surrounded it were without a leader.

Sakura could remember everyone's mixed reactions when Oto essentially took control of the entire surrounding land between Fire, Earth, and Lightening countries. It had taken a few long months for Naruto to convince everybody that the new and official Kage of Otogakure was nothing like his former master. The immediate alliance between Konoha and Oto was a testament to that—though it did take a lot of convincing for Tsunade to make the official call to form the alliance. Because they all knew Sasuke wasn't going to be the one to initiate the contract.

It was nearing the end of the second day of Sakura's journey when the rain began, a constant downpour that lasted into the third day of her travels. The weather ironically reflected her inner turmoil with the entire situation. She relayed in her mind was the mission scroll had stated, remembering that it was tucked securely in her pack.

Sasuke had requested that a set of trained medics be sent to Oto to assist with building up a secure and efficient medical unit within his village. Sakura could understand the request; first off, Konoha was the only true ally of Oto—they were still working to form other bonds, and secure the newer ones into alliances that Sasuke could fully rely on. Not only that, but when Sasuke took on the task of become the new Kage of Oto, he went out to physically rebuild the entire village in a location that was geographically smarter, considering the fact that the new country his village resided in was much larger than the former Rice Country. Prior to this, the Sound Village had essentially just been made up of a bunch of underground tunnels that were set in place by Orochimaru to hide his experiments. Apparently Sasuke was not in favor of those tunnels. He had positioned the new village to be as close to center in the new country as possible, which resembled some of the other countries. Not only that, but if Sakura remembered correctly, the Sound Shinobi were not known for their medical skills (aside from Kabuto, but Sakura didn't like to dwell her thoughts on him too much).

Sakura wondered what his reaction would be upon realizing that Tsunade only sent him one medic, and that the one medic she sent was his former teammate. If Sakura were honest with herself, she would admit that she was nervous to see his reaction, anxious to see him, scarred that he would send her away, that she had missed him despite everything that happened between them. But she was very rarely honest with herself these days, so none of these thoughts lingered for long in her conscious mind.

By the late afternoon Sakura arrived upon the gates of the Sound Village, clutching her travel cloak tighter around her to protect herself from the onslaught of the unrelenting rain. Two guards stood at the gates, watching her warily as she passed. She wondered vaguely how they would have reacted if they had seen her headband and the Leaf insignia upon it; Sakura did not regret having tucked it away hours ago.

Sakura trudged through the streets, looking for some indication of where one would find the Otokage. She could vaguely remember Naruto having described to her the layout of the visit, having memorized it from the several visits it took to it for Tsunade. She had never really paid attention to what the blonde male had told her, for the mention of Sasuke and his village had always made her throat constrict painfully. If she remembered correctly, the tower would be settled against the side of a large cliff that was located on the north side of the village. The concept reminded Sakura vaguely of how Konoha was set up. Walking through the streets, Sakura noticed how dull and lifeless everything seemed; shops were closed, windows shut tightly, no one milling about. _'Though that might be due to the weather,_' she thought dimly. Perhaps things would appear differently under different circumstances.

Of course, the fact that she did not want to be here probably had an affect on how she looked at the growing village.

As Sakura neared the north side of the village she became aware of a large tower-like building that was connected to two smaller square ones at its side. Despite the rain—which was getting significantly worse—Sakura remained outside, staring up at the building that loomed over her. With its dark exterior it seemed to blend in with the dark weather, making everything seem even more lifeless. In the back of her mind, Sakura wondered if she could really last a whole year in a place like this. She felt as if she would whither away in such a village.

'_Hopefully it only takes a year…'_

A clash of thunder sounded overhead, causing Sakura to jump slightly and remember where she was and her purpose. Taking a deep breath she forced her feet to move forward towards the large oak double doors. Right as she was about to reach for the handle a large sword came sailing out of nowhere. Sakura jumped back, holding her hood closer to her face. _'Son of a bitch, he could have taken my hand off!'_ she thought, already irritated. This was not how she wanted to start her time here. Sakura looked over at whoever was holding the sword, taking in his appearance. It didn't take even a second for her to recognize him as Suigetsu, one of the members of Taka.

"Hey there," he drawled, "what's a guy like you doing trying to get in to the Otokage's tower, eh?" He made a motion to grab at her, to which she brought up her arm and blocked. Because of this, her hood blew off her head, revealing her pink hair. Suigetsu paused and took her in. "So you're a woman," he mumbled. "Sakura, right?"

The young woman narrowed her eyes. She didn't think that he would necessarily remember her, they had only met on a couple occasions, and those times hadn't even been official. Sakura pushed her now-drenched hair out of her eyes. "I'm here on business from the Leaf Village," she said simply. "That is all you need to know."

Suigetsu smirked, looking her over. "Well, aren't you bold?" he pondered while lifting the sword from the entryway. He opened the door, bowing; even his body language screamed 'sarcasm'. "After you, ma'am." Sakura gave him her best stink eye before she passed him. His attitude reminded her a bit of Kiba; at least he didn't smell like wet dog.

Upon entering, a sign indicated different departments in the complex building and where they would be located. Checking the sign, Sakura then proceeded to weave her way through a few hallways and up a large staircase, then down another hallway. It wasn't long until she reached another set of oak doors. She gathered whatever courage she had left and knocked, hoping her knocking didn't sound timid.

"Come in," came a voice—_his_ voice.

It took Sakura a second to register that he had granted her permission to enter his office. His voice had been calm and slow, no longer containing the malice and hatred that she had unknowingly grown accustomed to whenever she had run into him.

'_Well, here goes the next year of my life,_' she thought, half miserable and half . . . something she couldn't describe.

Sakura grabbed a hold of the doors, squared her shoulder, and opened the door.

Her eyes were set straight ahead, so the first thing they happened to focus on was the man behind a large desk, writing on a scroll. He didn't look up at her, focused on his work before him. Sakura took in his appearance: he wore a dark shirt, his hair was cleaner than she remembered, his brow furrowed in concentration, a slight scowl on his face. "What do you want?" he questioned, barely paying attention to whoever had just walked in.

"You should be a little more courteous to you guests, you know," she said before thinking. Immediately she remembered her place: she was a medic, and his was a Kage. She needed to be more respectful.

Sasuke froze the instant she opened her mouth, staring at the parchment in front of him. '_That voice . . '_ Slowly he raised his eyes to the woman before him, not truly believing that she was actually there. But as his head came up he took in her appearance. Her outfit was dreadful: she was completely drenched from the rain, hair plastered to her face, clothes soaked through. But when his eyes reached her face, he noticed how her face was set into a firm expression, eyes filled with determination and boldness.

"What are you doing here?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, momentarily forgetting that she needed to treat him with respect. "You sent a notice to my village asking for medical experts." Sasuke leaned back in his chair, eyeing her with a calculating gaze. "I'm the medical expert."

"I asked for a team of experts," he said smoothly.

Sakura sighed, shoving her hair out of her face again. "Yes, I'm aware. However, the Leaf Village is short on trained medical staff at the moment, so Lady Hokage sent me," she explained. She bowed before him, trying to be respectful—for he was a Kage now, she needed to remember. "I am the top medical ninja, I will not disapp—"

"I remember, Sakura." He watched as she paused, glancing up at him from behind her hair. "I remember fighting alongside you in the war, what you did. You healed a majority of the Shinobi Alliance," he recalled. "You are a capable medical ninja."

Sakura straightened, trying to hold in her shock; having him verbally recognize her abilities was not something she was used to. She cleared her throat, composing herself once more. "What do you wish for me to do while I am here, Lord Otokage?" she asked.

While Sasuke's face didn't show it, he was taken aback by how Sakura addressed him. Of course, he was use to this from his own Shinobi, expected it. But to hear it from someone like Sakura . . . it felt odd, as if they truly were too far apart now. They were on completely different levels.

Sasuke stood, putting away the documents he was reviewing. They were already overdue, another few hours wouldn't make much of a difference. He quickly grabbed a cloak that was hanging up and led her out of the room. "Where are we going?" she asked as he led her down the hallway.

"I'm going to show you where you will be staying," he answered shortly.

As they made their way through the streets, Sakura took in more of the village. Parts of it still looked as if the village was still under construction; there were buildings that were only half built, some that looked broken and abandoned. If Sakura didn't know better, she wouldn't have been able to tell if this was a village being built or one being left behind. Sakura gripped her cloak closer to her as the winds picked up again, howling between the buildings. "Is the weather always this bad?" she wondered out loud.

"No," came a curt reply. Sakura made a mental note of that.

"So what is going on here that you requested assistance from the Leaf?" she asked, turning her gaze to his figure, which was covered by his cloak.

"We don't have a medical staff," he started off. "Orochimaru never bothered training people to know medical ninjutsu, so most of the shinobi here don't know any of the basics. They need to know. That will be the first part of your job. The second is to establish a hospital that can run efficiently," he said, glancing up at a tall building they were passing. Sakura looked up as well, taking note that this shabby building _was_ the hospital. "What we have isn't good enough to the sick or injured to reside in."

"I see . . ." she mumbled. The building wasn't nearly as large as the Konoha Hospital, but its size was wasn't pitiful. However, judging by what Sakura could see through the onslaught of rain and wind, the building didn't look stable enough to house the sick and injured.

They approached a set of apartments; Sakura appreciated that the apartment complex was close to the hospital. He led her to the first door on the second floor, handing her a key. "I was expecting more medical ninja, so you won't have any neighbors until someone else moves in later on," he said, sounding disinterested.

Sakura took the key and opened the door to her temporary home. It was an open concept with the living room and kitchen not having dividing walls. She could see that there was a bathroom down a hallway, which probably stood across from the bedroom. Sakura took off her cloak and set down her traveling pack, slowly walking around the apartment. There was some furniture with cheap linens on the bed, dishes and silverware in the kitchen, and a couple towels in the bathroom. Sakura started making a long mental list of everything she would need to buy the next day; she didn't bring too much with her, there hadn't been enough time to pack everything she'd wanted to.

"We will need to discuss more tomorrow," was all he said before walking out, closing the door firmly behind him.

Sakura waited a few seconds before walking to the kitchen and collapsing into a chair, running her hands through her hair. She had no idea what to make of the mid of emotions running through her. On one hand, she did not want to be here. This entire place was too foreign to her, unwelcoming, and too far from her home. But on the other hand, there was Sasuke. And Sakura hated this, how despite everything that had transpired between them, she still got flutters in her chest at seeing him.

This was going to be hard.

* * *

**R&R**


	2. The Hospital

The next morning Sakura woke up cold—the thin blankets that were in the apartment didn't provide much protection against the chill of the night. She stood and stretched, glancing out the window to assess the weather. The sky was dark, but it wasn't raining and the clouds were moving quickly, indicating that whatever storm they held would not break above the village. She sighed to herself; back home, the view out her bedroom window was of a bustling street, always active and crowded with happy people. Here, she had the pleasure of looking out at a forest line

It was less than an hour by the time Sakura was out on the streets of Otogakure, observing the shops around her. Now that the rain had let up, storefronts were opening up and people were starting to get along with their day. She received a few odd looks, but for the most part the villagers ignored Sakura, minding their own business. Sakura spent the first couple hours buying the basic essentials as far as clothes. The shops didn't seem to have much variety, which made Sakura resort to simple tops of different styles, general pants and shorts, among other things. She was slightly bummed that she wouldn't find anything with the Haruno symbol; perhaps she would send a request to have one of her friends from home bring some of her stuff for her. She was still slightly bitter at being rushed out of the village so quickly; she wasn't able to bring a majority of her belongings.

The next couple hours were spent getting food and general supplies for the apartment. Venturing through the supermarket, Sakura felt a strange sense of loneliness settle in; she was so used to seeing people she knew when walking around the Leaf village, going through this new village where no one knew her was drastically different. _'I guess this is something I'll have to get used to,_' she thought solemnly.

It wasn't long before she returned to the apartment complex, several bags in her arms. She spent the better part of the morning trying to make the place feel more like home. She eventually got all of her clothes stashed away, new bed linens in the washer, food stored in the kitchen, a rug for the living room, and a scented candle was lit. Sakura had become so absorbed in her tasks that she didn't hear the first set of knocks on her door, so when she noticed that someone was suddenly inviting themselves into her apartment she sprang into full ninja mode and charged at the intruder, kunai in hand. However, instead of having the stranger pinned against the doorframe she found herself on the other side of the room, pinned forward against the wall, hands twisted behind her back, a body holding her in place.

"Why did you try attacking me?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she started straining against the hold on her, but the hands holding her were unrelenting.

"Lord Otokage?"

"Answer me, Sakura," he said darkly.

Sakura was about to snap back at him, but then bit her tongue. Technically, she _did_ attack a kage—but he came into her apartment without her permission! When she told him this, Sasuke sighed and stepped away, releasing her from the hold he'd had her in. Sakura turned to face him, rubbing her wrists.

"I knocked and you didn't answer," he replied, a slight tinge of irritation laced with his words.

Sakura huffed, averting her gaze away from his. "Well, you still came in without my permission," she mumbled, walking away to get a drink for herself. "Want anything?" she asked, gesturing to the fridge. Sasuke shook his head once, declining. Sakura shrugged, popping open a bottle of water before settling against the counter. "So what do you need?"

"What are your plans?" he asked. After receiving a quizzical look, Sasuke almost wanted to sigh again. Honestly, he had hoped that she would be on top of things, considering everything that needed to get done in such a short amount of time. Instead of explaining all of this, he settled for giving her a half-hearted glare. He wasn't all that surprised to receive one back; he vaguely recalled Naruto telling him about Sakura's backbone and killer attitude. "The medical staff, the hospital. Sakura, the entire reason you are here," he said, sounding slightly exasperated.

Of course Sakura hadn't forgotten the reason she was here, it never left her mind. She just hadn't found the time yet to really formulate how she was going to accomplish everything for this village. She had only been here for less than a day, she didn't know anything about the state the village was in. "I can't really make any major plans yet, Lord Otokage," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I have yet to observe your shinobi. I would want to first see who would be interested in becoming a medical ninja, and then assess their abilities to check that they are even capable of it. Not everyone has what it takes," she explained. "You need to be able to retain a vast amount of knowledge of the human body, understand its functions, be quick and efficient with decision-making, have exceptional chakra control . . ." she listed off, thinking about everything Tsunade put her through their own training. "I would need to set up a training program that would allow for several people to learn at once while simultaneously making sure each individual is fully grasping the concepts," the woman added. "Do you have any medical texts in the village?" she asked suddenly, several thoughts running through her mind.

"Aside from reports from Orochimaru's experiments, no," Sasuke replied. "And those are not available to the public. Only select few can view them under strict guidelines."

Sakura cursed silently in her mind, taking another sip of her water. "I wonder if Tsunade can send some over," she pondered out loud. "What is the hospital like?" she asked.

Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, as if the question wasn't all that important. "I want to see it," Sakura continued. "If you are going to have an efficient medical unit in this village, the hospital needs to be up to date and run properly. I haven't been inside, so I can't decide much on that, either," she added.

Sasuke reached inside his jacket and pulled out a set of folded papers. He unfolded them, opening them across her kitchen table; they were blueprints of the hospital. Sakura sat down and started sifting through the papers; Sasuke took to leaning against the wall, watching. From what Sakura could see, the hospital had six floors; the main floor appeared to hold a lobby, waiting area, and general patient rooms. As Sakura went through the rest of the blueprints, she was bothered to notice that nothing was really labeled. There was no way of telling what different areas were dedicated to, so she wondered how the hospital was being run. What floor held the pediatrics, what rooms were dedicated to the Intensive Care Unit, which rooms were used for emergency victims? She could ask Sasuke for this information, but Sakura just had a gut feeling that he probably didn't know; he didn't strike her as the person to spend much time observing the hospital.

With this thought in her mind, Sakura collected the blueprints and stuffed them into her bag, grabbed a pencil and a notebook from her bedroom. Once she had collected what she thought would be needed, Sakura went to put on her shoes and jacket.

She glanced back into the kitchen where Sasuke was still standing, eyeing her warily. "Well, don't just sit there, let's go," she commanded. She was out the door before Sasuke could even formulate a response.

Honestly, this woman was going to be a serious struggle for the next twelve months.

* * *

Sakura marched through the hospital doors, Sasuke at her heels, and was a little shocked by the sight that met her. The lobby wasn't much of a lobby at all. There was a small table set up where a full desk should have been, one young woman sitting there with a meek look about her. Some of the lights flickered above, giving the room a bit of an unwelcoming atmosphere. There were some chairs set up along one of the walls, a large filing cabinet sitting against the opposite wall. On either side of the lobby were two hallways, which were closed off with double doors. The tiled floor was covered in dirt, making Sakura cringe; she hoped the rest of the building wasn't this shabby or dirty.

Upon seeing the pair walk into the hospital, the small woman behind the table stood quickly and bowed deeply, a blush on her face. "Lord Otokage, welcome!" she said quickly, almost stuttering through her words. The woman glanced up, looked at Sakura, and glanced back down almost immediately. "Hello, ma'am."

Sakura stepped forward, holding out her hand. "Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno," she introduced herself, gesturing for the woman to straighten up. As the worker did so, she shyly took Sakura's hand and shook it politely.

Sasuke then stepped forward, as well. "Naomi, Sakura is here to lead the medical unit of the village," he said briefly. "Show her around the hospital, fill her in on what has been going on," he ordered.

"Yes, Lord Otokage!"

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "I have paperwork to fill out. We will discuss this later," he said before walking back outside.

Sakura stood there for a moment, feeling slightly awkward and out of place. Naomi was the first to break the silence, clearing her throat lightly. "You're from the Leaf Village, yes?" she asked slowly. Sakura nodded once, tensing up. She was surprised when Naomi smiled, a slight blush tingeing her cheeks as she looked up at Sakura; Naomi was shorter than she was. "I've heard about you! You trained under Lady Tsunade," she recalled.

This time it was Sakura's turn to feel embarrassed. "Yeah, she was my teacher for about three years until I surpassed her," the pink-haired kunoichi explained. Naomi continued to beam up at her, seeming in awe. Sakura cleared her throat, glancing around the lobby. "So, the hospital . . ." was how she started, but after seeing Naomi's face fall slightly, she knew that the rest of her sentence was unnecessary. "Can you show me around? I need to see how the building is running—that's why I'm here."

Naomi nodded quickly then looked around, biting her lip. "There isn't anyone else to watch the lobby . . ." came a hesitant reply. She quickly made hand seals and produced a basic clone. The clone walked over to the table where Naomi had been, sat down and started sifting through papers that were scattered there. Naomi smiled at Sakura. "Okay, follow me."

Sakura was led through various rooms, each one giving her the same impression: neglect, no organization, no set purpose. In each room she would pause to write notes on her paper while looking at the blueprints. Some rooms were better than others, such as a couple of the Emergency Rooms on the second floor. Sakura had pointed this out casually, to which Naomi explained that these were the ERs they used the most.

"Why not use all of the ERs?" Sakura had asked.

"We don't have enough medics to run them," Naomi admitted.

On the third floor were a bunch of empty rooms surrounding another lobby area. The rooms all had large glass windows equipped with blinds. The walls were painted a light blue in the rooms, the lobby an eggshell white. By the size of the area, this space seemed to cover the majority of the third floor. "What area is this?" Sakura asked, as she did for other areas she had been shown.

"It's a mixed department," Naomi began. "This side," she gestured to the east side of the floor, "is the Elderly Services Department. On the west side is the Pediatric Department."

Sakura started walking around the lobby, observing the layout. She then noticed that the west side was actually divided by thin walls to separate part of the children's area. There were rooms for the patients, but also a space that Sakura assumed was a play area of sorts. Due to the lack of toys and such, it was hard to tell. "Who designed the building, Naomi?"

The young woman shrugged, shoving her hands into her lab coat. "I don't know, I'm sorry. All I know is that Lord Otokage had contacted the company that built the hospital in the Hidden Sand Village, and this is what he built for us," she admitted. "The hospital was built at the same time that the Kage Residence was being built. Actually, the entire village was sort of put together in a haste; no one really checked to make sure buildings were designed properly."

Sakura let out an unattractive snort. "I've been to the hospital in the Sand Village," she told, laughing slightly. "I have to wonder why Sasuke would contact that company. The Suna Hospital was designed specifically for their village—there are different medical demands there," she explained. "For instance, they have a much bigger department for burns and skin cancer because of the climate. However, this hospital wouldn't need nearly as large of a floor for such things," she continued. "The hospitals throughout different geographic regions are designed differently because those areas differ in what injuries are more common." She looked around again then made a few notes on her papers.

"Okay, so now on to the next three floors," she mumbled, glancing through the blueprints.

"There really isn't much up there," Sakura heard from the woman. Sakura stopped shuffling through papers and glanced over. Naomi turned her gaze away, an ashamed look coming across her face. "I mean… there are rooms, but we don't use them for much except storage—not enough staff," she said quickly, reminding Sakura of what had been explained earlier. "The rooms are essentially designed the same as the second floor. There are rooms for patients, small reception areas, a couple larger rooms that are closed off with thicker walls than the rest of the hospital," she said. "I'm not really sure why, though."

"They might have been designed for diagnostic imaging," Sakura suggested. "Though I can't be sure." Turning slowly, Sakura took in the floor once more, considering everything she had seen. In all honesty, she wanted to push for Naomi to show her the rest of the floors, but Sakura got the vibe that Naomi was reluctant to do so. In just the first three floors, Sakura had found so many things wrong, and perhaps she had made that too apparent. Thinking about how she had reacted to things, Sakura felt that perhaps she had been a little rude. Shaking away those thoughts, Sakura gathered up her papers once more, carefully sliding them back into her bag.

"Are you leaving?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah," Sakura answered. "I think I have an idea of what needs to be done, but it won't happen right away. Naomi, who currently runs the hospital?" she asked. The two began walking back towards the elevator.

Naomi once again stuffed her hands into her pockets, becoming sheepish. "Well, I sort of do," she admitted slowly. "But not because I'm the best—because I'm not. I'm just here often enough to know where everything is. Its sort of unofficial and by default, to be honest."

Sakura gave her a surprised look. "Naomi, how old are you?" she asked.

"Twenty-one, ma'am," she answered. Sakura nodded; this woman was barely older than herself, and she was in charge of an entire hospital.

As they continued down to the main lobby area, Sakura considered this. In their entire tour of the first three floors, Sakura had come across barely twenty nurses. And the person who was in charge didn't have the best medical training of the staff. The place wasn't sterile, barely ran properly, the space was not being used efficiently, and Sakura had to wonder how many actual medics worked there.

She knew she had a lot of work to do, and she still had to train people.

* * *

It was several hours later when Sakura found herself bent over kitchen table, all of the blueprints laid flat for her to see, her sheet of paper with scribbled notes laying on the counter top behind her. Her dinner sat untouched by the stove. Layouts of different hospitals she had been in over the past several years ran though her mind's eye as she tried to figure out what to do with the hospital in Sound to make everything run better.

This time, Sakura did hear the clear knocking at her apartment door. "Its unlocked!" she shouted, not looking up from the papers before her. She heard the door open and close quietly, then someone shuffling by the door—taking off his shoes, Sakura assumed. She didn't need to look up to know that it was Sasuke.

"Hey," she greeted, shuffling over to glance over the plan of the first floor. "So I think I have a vague idea of how I'm going to fix your hospital," she started. Sasuke walked over and took a seat across the table from her, watching her gaze over the blueprints. Her brow was furrowed, face set in concentration. Sasuke wondered how long she had been standing here over the papers trying to fix the problems that he was unable to fix himself.

"So here is what I'm thinking so far," she beckoned him over to her side so she could show him her thought process. Sasuke stood and slowly made his way around the table, watching from over her shoulder. She pointed to the first blueprint, showing the layout of the main floor. "Right now, all that is set up is a table, some chairs, and a bunch of filing cabinets. This is supposed to be the main lobby, however—" she pulled over a sheet from the second floor "—the building designer intended for the lobby to be here. A full desk and organizational system is actually built into the space, whereas the opening lobby is pretty bare."

"Hn."

Sakura rolled her eyes; of course his vocabulary hadn't changed much. "What I'm thinking is to take the design of the second floor's lobby and build it into the first floor. It isn't too complicated, you could easily hire a Genin team to do it." She took a pencil and marked a small note of this idea on the main floor's blueprint.

This was how the following hour commenced: Sakura would move to different parts of each floor, showing where different departments would go, how many people it would take to run specific departments, writing notes and drawing figures on the blueprints to show the corrections that would be made. Every once and a while she would glance over at him, making sure that her plan was okay with him. Each time he would give her a slight nod, not taking his eyes off of her notes. It was a complicated process; Sasuke wasn't aware that there were so many different areas that a hospital needed to run—so many departments that had not yet existed in the Sound Hospital. Now, seeing all these plans being formed and finalized, Sasuke started to feel the sense of a weight being lifted. The hospital had been one of the biggest problems for several months. His shinobi were not being properly cared for, causing them to be low on ninja for missions at times. The mere knowledge that there would soon be a hospital that the village could rely on made Sasuke feel like things were going to start getting better.

One could only hope.

Sakura stepped away from the table and stretched with a yawn. "That's all I have for now, Lord Otokage," she said, exhaustion seeping into her voice.

"Don't call me that."

Sakura glanced over at her former teammate. The Uchiha was still staring at the papers, moving a couple over. "I have to call you that. You are ranked above me—it is only respectful that I call you by your title," Sakura said. "To do otherwise would be rude."

Sasuke titled his head slightly to look at her. "When there are others around, call me whatever you wish. But here, or when we are just talking . . . don't call me by my title," he said.

Sakura eyed him, bemused. "I would have thought you'd be all about formalities," she pondered out loud. "So you don't want me to call you 'Lord Otokage'?" she asked, clarifying.

"No." Sasuke turned to face her fully. If he were a different man, he probably would have smirked at her, called her annoying. Perhaps make some snide remark. But all he could manage was to look at her, knowing she would understand.

So when she slowly gave a small, sad smile, he knew that she understood. "Okay . . . Sasuke."

* * *

**Another down!**

**BTW I have a tumblr. looneyblonde (it's old, don't judge). I repost mostly naruto stuff, but if you'd all like I can post updates about stories, answer questions, whatevs.**


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